UK Prime Minister Liz Truss’s office said on Tuesday there was nothing unusual about her chief of staff failing to accompany her on a trip to New York, after he was linked to a bribery investigation by the FBI.
Mark Fullbrook stayed behind as Ms Truss travelled to the UN General Assembly, where she will meet leaders including US President Joe Biden on her first foreign trip since taking office.
The prime minister’s spokesman said Mr Fullbrook “has her full support” and put his absence down to the volume of government business, as day-to-day politics resumes after the royal mourning period.
“It's actually not unusual for the chiefs of staff to remain in Downing Street during these trips,” the spokesman said.
“There's a lot of government business taking place this week. If anything, it's more unusual for them to attend and not remain in Downing Street to oversee that work.”
The Sunday Times reported at the weekend that Mr Fullbrook had been interviewed by detectives in connection with a political scandal in Puerto Rico, a US territory. He denies any wrongdoing.
The island’s former governor Wanda Vazquez Garced was charged last month with accepting a bribery offer from bankers during an election campaign in 2020.
Prosecutors allege that the scheme involved paying the political consultancy CT Group, where Mr Fullbrook was a senior executive, to support Ms Vasquez Garced’s re-election bid.
US detectives spoke to Mr Fullbrook and agreed that his testimony would not be used against him, according to The Sunday Times, which said he was co-operating as a witness.
Liz Truss's political career — in pictures
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New Conservative Party leader and Britain's Prime Minister-elect Liz Truss delivers a speech after being announced the winner of the Tory Party leadership contest in central London on September 5, 2022. Ms Truss is the UK's third female prime minister following Theresa May and Margaret Thatcher. AFP -
Liz Truss during a hustings event in Darlington in August 2022. Ms Truss and Rishi Sunak are awaiting the results of a poll of Conservative Party members deciding which of them has been selected as the new party leader, and next prime minister. PA -
Liz Truss playing pool during a visit to the Onside Future Youth Zone in London in August 2022. PA -
Boris Johnson and Ms Truss arriving for an extraordinary summit at Nato headquarters in Brussels, in March 2022. AFP -
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Ms Truss arrive for talks in Moscow in February 2022. AP -
Ms Truss in Red Square during a visit to Moscow in February 2022. Photo: No. 10, Downing Street -
Ms Truss meeting European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic (not seen) for talks in central London on the Northern Ireland Protocol on 11th February 2022. PA -
Ms Truss with Marise Payne, the Australian minister of foreign affairs, at Government House in Sydney, Australia, in January 2022. Photo: No. 10, Downing Street -
Liz Truss hosts Vice President of the European Commission Maros Sefcovic at Chevening House in January 2022 to discuss the Northern Ireland protocol. Photo: No. 10, Downing Street -
Ms Truss visits British troops in Estonia as they operate alongside other Nato troops in Tapa in November 2021. Photo: No. 10, Downing Street -
Liz Truss walks through the old town in Tallinn, Estonia, in November 2021. Photo: No. 10, Downing Street -
Ms Truss greeting Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Cop26 summit in Glasgow, in November 2021. PA -
Ms Truss at the Red Fort in New Delhi during a trip to India in October 2021. Photo: No. 10, Downing Street -
The British foreign secretary on the Plaza de la Constitucion in Mexico City, during a trip to Mexico in September 2021. Photo: No. 10, Downing Street -
Queen Elizabeth II greeting Ms Truss at a reception for international business and investment leaders at Windsor Castle in October 2021. PA -
Liz Truss with Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, in New York, in September 2021. Photo: No. 10, Downing Street -
Ms Truss on a morning jog over Brooklyn Bridge in New York in September 2021. Photo: No. 10, Downing Street -
Former Chancellor Philip Hammond, centre, holding his red ministerial box outside 11, Downing Street, flanked by Treasury colleagues Ms Truss and Mel Stride in October 2018. PA -
Ms Truss, then secretary of state for justice, being escorted around HMP Brixton by prison governor David Bamford in November 2016. PA -
Ms Truss as she became the first woman ever to hold the role of Lord Chancellor, arriving at the Royal Courts of Justice before being installed in July 2016. PA -
In April 2016, the former environment secretary Liz Truss listening to former chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne (not seen) during his speech at the National Composites Centre in Bristol. PA -
When she was environment minister, Ms Truss visited the bridge over the River Wharfe in Tadcaster, which collapsed after heavy flooding in December 2015. Getty Images -
Addressing the Conservative party conference in Birmingham in 2014 when she was secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs. Getty Images -
Mr Truss on the Sawnnington Farm to Fork stand at the Norfolk Food Festival at the Houses Of Parliament in October 2011. PA -
Conservative Parliamentary candidate for South-West Norfolk Elizabeth Truss, while canvassing in the village of West Walton during the 2010 General Election campaign. PA -
The former Conservative Shadow Home Secretary, Dominic Grieve, centre, speaking at the launch Reform's Lawful Society report on the nature of crime and the incentives in the criminal justice system while Ms Truss looks on, in September 2008. PA -
Former Conservative Leader William Hague meeting conservative candidate for Calder valley Ms Truss, during the General Election Campaign for 2005. PA
A spokesman for Mr Fullbrook told the newspaper that he was “committed to and complies with all laws and regulations in any jurisdiction in which he works and is confident he has done so in this matter”.
Mr Fullbrook, who left CT Group to start his own company in April, was named Downing Street chief of staff two weeks ago when Ms Truss was appointed prime minister.
The prime minister's spokesman said on Tuesday that Ms Truss stood 100 per cent behind her appointment of Mr Fullbrook.
A veteran of Conservative election campaigns, Mr Fullbrook ran Boris Johnson’s winning leadership bid in 2019 and has worked with prominent Australian adviser Sir Lynton Crosby.
He is rumoured to have ordered a strict dress code for aides after unprofessional behaviour at Downing Street contributed to Mr Johnson’s downfall. Ms Truss has promised to restore trust after a series of scandals.
